Kerry voting record factoid of the day

This $87 billion bill that the Republicans keep harping on, that Kerry voted for the first time through, and against the second time? Here's a couple of rather important facts about those versions of the bill:

Version 1: (The one Kerry supported, and Bush opposed.) $87 billion for troops, with an amendment that specified a source for the money. (A one-year elimination of Bush's new tax breaks to the top 1%, which would cover nearly all of that $87 billion.)

After Kerry voted FOR this version (a fiscally responsible move), many Republicans turned around and voted AGAINST it.

In other words, remember that every time you hear a Republican going on about how Kerry voted "for the troops, then against them", remember that most of the Republican senators voted AGAINST that same bill before they voted for it!


Version 2: (The one Bush supported, and Kerry voted against.) $87 billion for troops, with NO indication at all where the money would come from. Guess we're just supposed to stick it on credit, and hope our reduced income can pay for it later.

Talk about irresponsible deficit spending... of the very kind that Bush claims he's trying to eliminate!

Mind you, this was on top of the original $79 billion that Congress approved, and another estimated $50 billion for rebuilding Iraq, not to mention any needed expenditures for Homeland Security.


And there's another rant or several for the future:

1. Funds for NYC that Bush promised and never delivered.


2. The reduction in federal funding for emergency responders (our first line of defense in case of terrorist attack).


3. Most of the National Guard is overseas, although their reason for being is to handle internal defense when our military is elsewhere.


4. The ongoing lie that Bush "inherited the recession". The economy was slowing in 2000, but it didn't take up cliff diving until Feb-March 2001.


5. The fact that Bush inherited a budget surplus and a decreasing national debt; in three years he turned that into a budget deficit, and a growing national debt.


6. Unemployment. Jobs being sent offshore. New jobs that are lower wage, part-time, with no benefits being called "replacements" for high-tech, salaried (with benefits) jobs. Poverty is increasing. The Bush administration's idea of "dealing" with these problems: stop publication of the mass layoff reports, and change how they count the number of people living below the poverty line.

The Not So Swift Vets strike again...

... or GET struck again?

Now they're stealing vet's names.

From the The Billings Gazette article:

Swift boat veteran Bob Anderson of Columbus is ticked.

It bothers him that Sen. John Kerry's swift boat history has become such a political hot potato. But he's even more irritated that his name was included - without his permission - on a letter used to discredit Kerry.

"I'm pretty nonpolitical," the 56-year-old Anderson said Tuesday. So, when he found out last week that his name was one of about 300 signed on a letter questioning Kerry's service, he was "flabbergasted."

...

"After reading the letter," Anderson said, "it kind of got under my skin. I had never come across a situation where someone used my name without my support or approval. It's not a very comforting feeling."

What's worse, he said, he disagrees with the letter.

"Had they asked me to use my name, I wouldn't have allowed them to," he said.

...

Fellow swift boat sailor Bob Wedge ..., 60, of Mesquite, Nev., said his name, too, was on the list - and he's mad.

"This is the fourth or fifth time someone has called me or e-mailed me in regard to signing this damn letter," he wrote in an e-mail to Anderson. "I don't agree with it and want no part of it and especially don't want my name on it."

Both men have tried to contact the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to have their names removed from the list. Neither have had any success.

"I can't seem to get a response when I reply to their e-mail," Wedge said.

"They come back undeliverable."

Anderson said he first learned about the situation last week when he received an e-mail from a third party. The e-mail, from a Tom Pyle, said Pyle had contacted a dozen men whose names showed up on the list. Of the dozen, three said they had not given permission, Anderson said.

"That leads me to believe that as many as 25 percent of the names are fictitious supporters of that group," he said.

...

Wedge said he's known about the list for several months. Unlike Anderson, he remembers receiving an e-mail asking if he wanted to sign the letter in support.

He speculates that his name was automatically added to the list when he opened the e-mail.

A followup article states that:

two e-mails, faxed to The Gazette, show both men replied with a "yes."

The response from Wedge, also dated April 27, states his name, ranking, boat number and concludes with "YES to Letter." An e-mail from Anderson, dated May 6, states "Yes. I was on swifts July 1, 1969, to June 23, 1970. I served on 3 boat operating off sea float and above Ha Tuien along the Cambodian frontier at the same period of time that young Zumwalt and Kerry was doing the same. bob anderson EN2."

Wedge insists that he remembers saying "no" when he received the e-mail.

"I strongly and vividly remember that," he said. "They've got the information (ranking, boat number) right but I don't agree with it (letter). I don't get behind the candidate bashing - I just don't do it."

Anderson said he does not remember receiving the original e-mail.

"If I said 'yes,' I didn't mean 'yes,' [to the letter]" he said. "Yes, I was a swifty and that was the time period I served."

(As someone who works with domains, email, and web stuff all day long, I can say that faking an email, especially when you're just faxing a printed copy of it, is a piece of cake. Hell, give me a copy of notepad and a printer and I'll make up something that looks like it's from anyone you like. Had they electronically forwarded copies of the emails, with all headers, that would be harder to fake.)